• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.119-126
• /
• 1996

This study was carried out to determine the optimal condition for successful and efficient c cryopreservation of zygotes, 1-cell embryos, using EFS40 which was 40% (v/v) ethylene glycol diluted in DPBS medium containing 30% Fic-oll (w/v) and 0.3 M sucrose. After mouse zygote produced by IVF was vitrified by two freezing methods, the post-warming survival rates of 1-cell zygotes were assessed as cleavage to the 2-cell stage and development into the hatching blastocysts at 5 day. In the one-step method, when embryos were directly exposed to the vitrification solution at 25$^{\circ}C$ for 1 min., survival and development rates of zygotes were 85.5% and 31.9% In the two-step method, embryos were equilibrated with a dilute 20% EG for 1, 3, 5 min. before 1 min. exposure to EFS40, re-spectively. However, the rates of development (17.7, 3.3, 0%) were lower than that of one-step method. The highest survival rate (95.9%) was obtained by one-step method which exposes embryos in EFS40 for 30 sec. In this condition, 63. 8% of cleaved 2-cell developed into hatching blastocysts. In the cell number of Total and ICM using differential labelling technique, there are no significant differences in the cell number of Total and ICM between blastocysts devel oped in vitrified-thawed embryos (63.2${\pm}$16.9, 1 13.5${\pm}$4.0) and control balstocysts (54.0${\pm}$15.2, 1 12.3${\pm}$4.6). Therefore, these results show that mouse zygotes can be successfully cryopreserved by a simple vitrification method although developmental rates of vitrified embryos were reduced. In conclusion, this proposed vitrifi cation procedures can be useful in the cryopreservation of mouse IVF zygotes.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.272-279
• /
• 2019

The study was conducted to evaluate the seminal attributes and cryobanking of Achhami (Bos indicus) bull semen. Of two Achhami bulls, 8 ejaculates from each bull were evaluated for seminal attributes. For semen freezing and cryo-banking, 4 ejaculates (having ≥2 mL semen volume, ≥75% of sperm motility and ≥1,000 × 10⁶ cells/mL of sperm concentration) from each bull were used. Semen samples were diluted in egg-yolk-tris-citrate extender using a two-step dilution protocol, and were frozen in liquid nitrogen (LN₂) vapour in a styrofoam box. The mean semen volume, colour, sperm mass activity, motility, viability, concentration, abnormal acrosome, midpiece and tail and, abnormal head of two Achhami bulls were 4.4 ± 0.5 mL vs. 2.5 ± 0.2 mL, 2.5 ± 0.1 vs. 2.4 ± 0.1, 3.5 ± 0.1 vs. 3.5 ± 0.1, 77.0 ± 1.1% vs. 78.3 ± 1.3%, 94.4 ± 0.5% vs. 91.0 ± 0.6%, 1137.7 ± 73.7 × 10⁶ cells/mL vs. 1060.0 ± 44.3 × 10⁶ cells/mL, 10.2 ± 0.5% vs. 10.3 ± 0.5% and 6.7 ± 0.5% vs. 8.2 ± 0.3%, respectively. The post-thawed sperm motility and viability were 53.0 ± 2.0% vs. 50.0 ± 0.0% and 80.2 ± 0.4% vs. 73.2 ± 0.7%, while evaluating by computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) system, the percentage of the progressive motility, fast motility, slow motility, local motility and immotile sperm were 75%, 68%, 7.4%, 16.6% and 8.6%, respectively. A total number of 620 doses semen straw were cryo-banked. Due to the acceptable post-thawed sperm motility and viability recorded, cryopreservation of Achhami semen is hereby recommended so as to preserve the Achhami breed. For further validation, the fertility will be observed from the produced frozen semen.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.299-309
• /
• 2000

This study was performed 1) to establish the optimal PCR condition of sex determination in Hanwoo IVM/IVF embryos, 2) to examine the sex determination and sex ratio to the developmental stages of Hanwoo IVM/IVF embryos by two-step PCR method. The sexing of bovine IVF embryos were accurately determined by PCR methods using Y chromosome specific DNA primer(BOV 97M, 141bp) and bovine specific DNA primer(216bp). The fregment size were shown at 141 and 216 base pairs(bp) in male, and 216 bp in female. Two-steps PCR method in which the samples were amplified by 15 cycles with Y chromosome specific DNA primer and then amplified by additional 30 cycles with bovine specific DNA primer was effective in the sexing of bovine IVF embryos. The zona-free embryos were more effective than zona-intact embryos in bovine IVF embryo sexing. The appearance of Y chromosome specific band was 45.2% in embryos treated with protease K and 53.3% in embryos treated with freezing and thawing repeatedly. The optimun volume of DNA for sexing of Hanwoo IVF embryos were 2 to 10 $\mu$1 in Zona-free embryos and 12 to 13 $\mu$1 in zona-intact embryos. The sexing rate of bovine IVF embryos by PCR was 96.0% and questionable rate not identified sex was 4.0%, respectively. Among the sexed embryos, the percentage of male and female was 49.7% and 46.3%, respectively, the sex ratio was 1: 1.1. The successful rate of embryo sexing was increased to the developmental stages.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.231-238
• /
• 1999

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of developmental stage and embryo age of in vitro produced bovine blastocysts after vitrification and thawing. In vitro cultured day 8 blastocysts after IVF were equilibrated 20% ethylene glycol (EG) for 3 min. and were vitrified using EFS40, which is consisted of 40% EG, 18% ficoll, 0.3M sucrose and 10% FBS added in mDPBS for 30 sec. before being plunged into $LN_2$. Also, survival in vitro was assessed by re-expansion and hatching or hatched at 24 hand 48 h postwarming, respectively. The results obtained in these experiments were summarized as follows; 1) When the embryos were cultured for 8 day after IVF, 41.0% of the cleaved embryos developed to the blastocysts (early; 7.6%, expanded; 22.9%, hatching; 4.6% and hatched; 5.9%). 2) When the embryos were exposed or vitrified to the freezing solution, the re-expansion of vitrified embryos (73.3%) was significantly lower than that of control and exposed embryos (100, 97.0%) (p<0.05). But the formation rate of hatching or hatched blastocysts of vitrified embryos (66.7, 46.7%) at 48h after thawing was similar to that of exposed embryos (66.7, 39.4%) but not control (100, 100%) (p<0.01). However, in the total cell numbers of those developed hatched blastocysts, there were not significantly different among the treatment groups. 3) When the embryo survival rates by different developmental stage were examined, the re-expansion was not different among the groups $(64.5{\sim}75.6%)$. After warming 48 h, the hatching and hatched formation of early blastocysts (25.8, 9.7%) was significantly lower than those of expanded (69.7, 39.4%) and hatching blastocysts (53.3, 43.3%) (p<0.05). 4) In addition, when the expanded blastocysts at day 7, 8 and 9 were vitrified, the re-expansion of day 8 and 9 embryos was significantly lower than that of day 7 (day 7; 93.9%, day 8; 75.8% and day 9; 87.5%) (p<0.05). However, the rates of development to hatched blastocysts were no difference among the groups (day 7; 36.4%, day 8; 36.4% and day 9; 31.3%). These results suggested that in vitro produced expanded or hatching blastocysts can be efficiently cryopreserved by the two-step vitrification method using EFS40.